Insomnia is a Major Contributor to Car Accident Fatalities

A recent study found that individuals who suffer from insomnia are more likely to die from injuries sustained in car accidents and other unintentional injuries than non-insomnia sufferers.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the risk of death from an unintentional injury increased in direct proportion with the number of insomnia symptoms experienced by the deceased. Accident victims who had three symptoms of insomnia were 2.8 times more likely to die from a fatal injury than those with no symptoms of insomnia, even as compared to alcohol consumption and the use of sleep medication.

The CDC reports that an average of 126,000 people in the United States die every year from unintentional injuries. More than 33,000 of those deaths are related to car accidents and more than 27,000 are related to falling accidents. The CDC study used a population survey of 54,000 individuals between the ages of 20 and 89 years of age and followed their causes of death over a period of 13 years. Over that 13 year period, 277 died in unintentional fall accidents and 57 died in car accidents. People who reported having difficulty falling asleep were more than two times more likely to die in a car accident, and more than 1.5 times likely to die from a fall accident.

CDC representatives stressed the importance of healthy sleep habits. Sleep is extremely important to ensure that individuals are alert enough to safely operate cars and other machinery.